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TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2018 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
seeks ‘Road scam witness stays with WPP’ JBC 2 associate By Rey E. Requejo
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HE Department of Justice will continue to provide protection to the whistleblower who implicated officials of the previous administration into the alleged P8.7-billion anomaly involving road right-of-way scam for road projects in General Santos City, despite questions on his credibility. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Monday turned down a plea to have Roberto Catapang Jr. dropped from the DOJ’s Witness Protection Program despite attacked on his credibility as a witness. “He [Catapang] does not appear to be the most guilty, so we are right in putting him in the WPP,” Aguirre ruled.
Aguirre said that the accusations of Mercedita Dumlao and Wilma Mamburam against Catapang would not suffice to disqualify the witness from WPP coverage. “Tha’s their allegation. They should prove it,” the Justice Secretary said. Earlier, Dumlao and Mamburan wrote a letter to Aguirre asking that the DOJ dropped Catapang from the
WPP for being a questionable witness. According to them, Catapang is facing “numerous estafa complaints filed against him as well as his involvement in drugs cases in General Santos.” Last month, Catapang implicated Dumlao, Mamburam, Col. Chino Mamburam and Nelson Ti as members of the syndicate who operated the RROW scam in General Santos City “in connivance with other government officials and private individuals.” He alleged that Ti was the group’s alleged financier and a “close friend” of former President Benigno Aquino III. Among the government officials he tagged were former Department of Public Works and Highways
secretary Rogelio Singson and Department of Budget and Management secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad. In a press conference, Catapang also implicated Eldon Cruz, brother-in-law of Aquino, in the controversy and claimed that the businessman signed a letter endorsing one of the projects in the anomaly. The witness has since been placed under WPP coverage and given security. In his affidavit, Catapang claimed that he was part of the syndicate who operated the scam. He said they would fabricate fake titles in the name of non-existent persons and then secure payment using them. Catapang said the syndicate was able to process over 300 RROW claims including one
amounting to P29 million. He recalled that despite the discovery of the scheme in 2011, the syndicate continued its operations in General Santos City. In fact, he recalled that Abad released some P500 million in December 2013 upon the request of Singson for payment of ROW involving fake land titles. Abad, Singson and 41 others, including Mamburam and Dumlao, have already been placed on the DOJ’s immigration lookout bulletin order. Aguirre even dared Dumlao to clear her name from Catapang’s accusations. In a two-page letter, Dumlao dismissed Catapang’s allegations that she was one of those who facilitated the release of payment for the private
properties used for road projects funded by the Department of Public Works and Highways in General Santos using fictitious land titles. “I vehemently deny having any involvement in the said scam and condemn in the strongest possible terms the unfair and baseless accusation made by Mr. Catapang,” Dumlao said in a two-page letter delivered by his legal counsel Danny Villanueva to the Office of the Justice Secretary. “Contrary to Mr. Catapang’s claim, I am one of the numerous persons victimized by his felonious modus and scheme pertaining to his alleged RROW claims before the Region 12 Office of the DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways),” read the letter. With PNA
FIREWORKS. People watch fireworks display during th New Year Celebration in Manila on Jan. 1, 2018. The Philippines is mainly Roman Catholic but the celebrations draw on ancient superstitions and Chinese traditions in which the noise from firecrackers is meant to drive away evil spirits and bring good luck in the coming year. Adding to the danger of annual fireworks celebrations in the streets, there are over 1.2 million unlicensed firearms in the Philippines and some of those are used in the festivities. AFP
Nograles assures ‘adjusted’ pension for retirees by 2019 THE chairperson of the House of Representatives' committee on appropriations has assured the retirees among the country's uniformed personnel that beginning 2019 or even earlier, their pensions shall be calibrated at par with the pay hike to be received by their active counterparts. “The commitment of Malacañang, which is the guiding policy of the House of Representatives that possesses the power of the purse, is to adjust the pension of retirees in the MUP sector by 2019,” Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the panel chairperson, said. The indexation of pensions is expected to benefit over 200,000 retirees, the threeterm congressman noted. It will cost the government an estimated P38 billion. Nograles said the indexation will take effect following the salary increase that has been allotted for military and uniformed personnel beginning January 2018 wherein the monthly base pay of a Police Officer 1 in the Philippine National Police or a Private in the Armed Forces of the Philippines will be doubled. The same is true for equivalent ranks in the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Public Safety College, Philippine Coast Guard, and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, he added. Calibrated increases in base salaries will also be given to those in higher ranks.
“President Rodrigo Duterte would be the first to tell you that the retired sector deserves all the compensation and benefits that it can get from government. Indeed, loyalty, perseverance, and hard work must be rewarded,” Nograles said. The one-year suspension of the indexation of pensions will give government some time to make adjustments in the national budget. Nograles assured that the House, which exetcises the “power of the purse,” will look for funds for the pension adjustment under the 2019 national budget. “It will be a challenge but it will not be impossible. Just look at how we were able to find P40 billion for the free higher education program in the P3.767-trillion General Appropriations Act of 2018,” Nograles said. “We have been preparing for the pension indexation as early as this year. So we definitely don’t intend to disappoint our retirees in 2019,” he added. The free higher education program, which will also be rolled out in 2018, is provided for under Republic Act 10931 or the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. The law was signed after the 2018 National Expenditure Program—the precursor of the national budget—had been submitted to Congress, meaning no funds had been set aside to cover the free tuition and miscellaneous fees of state colleges and universities at the time of its enactment. Maricel V. Cruz
justices for CA
THE Judicial and Bar Council has opened for applications two Associate Justice positions in the Court of Appeals. The vacancies became available after the appointment of Justice Romeo Barza as CA Presiding Justice last Dec. 8 and the death of CA Justice Florito Macalino last Dec. 7. In an announcement dated Dec. 28 made by Supreme Court Clerk of Court and JBC Ex Officio Secretary Felipa Anama, it said applications “must all be received by the JBC not later than 4:30 p.m. of 13 February 2018.” “The date of actual receipt by the JBC of the applications and complete documentary requirements shall be deemed as the date of filing,” the announcement read. “Qualifications of applicants shall be reckoned from the said deadline,” it added. The JBC is constitutionally mandated to screen and vet nominees to the President for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman. The council is chaired by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno, with ex-officio members, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, along with the legislative branch namely Senator Richard Gordon and Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, who shall have a term sharing seat in the JBC. Barza, a native of Lupon, Davao Oriental and a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law, had served as a regional trial court judge in Batangas City prior to his appointment as CA justice on May 4, 2006. Apart from Barza, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed other members of the judiciary last December. These include Makati Judge Maryan CorpusManalac as Associate Justice of Sandiganbayan and Walter Ong as Associate Justice of the CA. PNA
Solons OK EO ban on overseas trips for Palace officials By Maricel V. Cruz LAWMAKERS have welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte's order on Thursday barring officials in the executive branch from taking trips abroad and for government agencies to take an active role in tracking down public officials who had taken unnecessary travels. Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said the President has shown what a good governance is about by setting an example to all officials and employees of government. “The President has started to live by example,” Albano,
majority leader for the House contingent to Commission on Appointments, said. “If there is no reason to travel, why travel?” Parañaque Rep. Gus Tambunting echoed Albano’s view. Tambunting said the President's executive order barring officials under the executive branch to take unnecessary travels effective Jan. 1, 2018, except the Department of Foreign Affairs must be respected. “I respect the decision of the President. In general, the Executive Department serves at the pleasure of the President and is under his control. If the Presi-
dent feels this is necessary to improve the service of the Executive Branch, that is his prerogative. He [President Duterte] can decide how to spend the funds of the executive department,” Tambunting, chair of the House committee on games and amusements, said. Magdalo.party-list Rep. Gary Alejano said the President's order must be extended to all branches of government. “I agree and support that policy. Only necessary official travels for all government officials not only for the executive branch but for all branches of government,” Alejano, an opposition, said.
Nevertheless, he said “government officials should still have the option to travel abroad as long as it is not during office days and not using government funds.” For his part, Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin said the order was unnecessary as “all travels of the executive branch are approved by the Office of the President or through Cabinet officials who are the President’s alter egos.” “After much traveling by Malacañang officials in 2017, now they want a travel ban in 2018. It is up to Malacañang to decide which travels are deem necessary,” Villarin, from the
opposition, said. President Duterte earlier said he would also ask agencies to find out which officials had gone on excessive trips abroad. He said the order was intended so as to be “strict in terms of money” to ensure that public money do not go to waste. The President earlier sacked several government officials for supposedly taking unnecessary trips abroad, such as Dangerous Drugs Board chief Dionisio Santiago and Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor chief Terry Ridon.
PVAO extends P9.06-billion benefits for veterans’ families
NEW YEAR AT THE PARK. Families flock to Manila's Rizal Park to spend the onset of 2018, known in the Chinese calendar as the Year of the Dog. Ey Acasio
IN LINE with efforts to take care of veterans and their families, the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office disbursed P9.06 billion worth of pensions in 2017. This benefitted an average of 208,159 pension accounts, Department of National Defense spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said. He added that PVAO subsidized various medical and health care services availed by Filipino veterans and their qualified dependents under the Veterans Hospitalization and Medical Care Program worth P85.05 million as part of efforts to recognize the services rendered by Filipino veterans. “This accomplishment leads
PVAO to realizing its objective that no veteran should pay for his own medicine,” Andolong said. The PVAO provided educational benefits to 2,185 “Iskolar ng mga Bayani” as of the end of November for a total amount of P38.11 million. These beneficiaries are direct descendants of the country’s valiant defenders who fought in World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War. Andolong said PVAO’s Educational Benefits Program has produced close to 7,300 graduates since 2002. The educational assistance for the “Iskolar ng mga Bayani” is given to qualified and deserving students for a maximum of P36,000 per year per beneficiary. PNA